Broadway star Samantha Williams found a place for herself in 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical'

This reimagined version of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta adds to her acclaimed career of putting a memorable stamp on musical characters old and new.

"As you grow up and do this thing we call acting, people put us in boxes," said Samantha Williams. But since making her Broadway debut in 2019, the actress has never done the same thing twice. Her critically acclaimed performances in musicals on Broadway and beyond span centuries of settings: modern-day high school in Dear Evan Hansen, a '90s countercultural music store in Empire Records, Elizabethan England in The Dark Lady, Civil Rights-era Louisiana in Caroline, or Change.

In her latest project, she is back in Louisiana, but in a comedy set 100 years earlier: a revamped version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance dubbed Pirates! The Penzance Musical. Newly infusing the operatic score with New Orleans jazz, Pirates! features Stanley as the assertive Mabel, whose engagement to a naive pirate apprentice is upended by a series of hilarious misunderstandings. Linda Ronstadt most notably played the role on Broadway and on screen in the '80s, but while Williams said she's inspired by past performances, she doesn't imitate them.

"Having your fresh take and truly being unapologetically yourself is always going to take you further than trying to imitate something that came before," Williams said. "For something like Pirates! that is so different than the original, it didn't feel like I was stepping into something that already existed."

And yet, her conception of the show initially deterred her from joining Pirates! Music director Joseph Joubert, with whom she worked on Caroline, had to convince her to come aboard for its 2022 premiere as a one-night concert. Despite having both jazz and classical vocal training, Williams hadn't thought old-school British operetta was built for her as an Afro-Caribbean "child of immigrants" from Texas. This adaptation changed that, too.

Toward the end of Pirates!, the feuding characters bond over their shared identity as immigrants, an idea that has resonated more deeply with Williams since Broadway performances began in April. (Audiences, too — she described their general response to the ending as "hell motherfucking yeah.")

"I never thought it would have this much of an impact because it's a fun Gilbert and Sullivan and kind of corny," Williams said. "With everything going on, it just hits different.

"Sometimes, as an artist, it can feel like, 'What am I doing? People are literally dying,'" she continued. "And then there are moments where I'm like, 'Actually, there is a way I can help and feel like I'm spreading awareness and a message, even through art like this.'"

This genre-blending, classic-meets-contemporary Pirates! isn't being put in a box, just like Williams. The actress dives into her wide-ranging background as a singer, reflects on the past three years she's spent with Mabel, and shares what she hopes to do next once Pirates! wraps at the Todd Haimes Theatre on July 27.

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When you decided to play Mabel, did you still draw on anything from the original idea of the character? What is she like in the original Penzance?

In both versions, Mabel is the outspoken daughter who knows what she wants. [In the song] "Poor Wandering One," she's like, "I want you. I can help you." That hasn't changed, which is really awesome. I just didn't know anything about Gilbert and Sullivan. I didn't know the world that well, and I had never really seen people who look like me in that world.

I was just doing what everyone was doing to me, and once I got out of that, I was like, "This is actually really cool, and I can see myself in this."

In this version, Mabel she still holds that outspoken quality to her, but we definitely infused a little bit more sensuality while still remaining demure. That's been really fun to play with.

What does your identity as an Afro-Caribbean add to Mabel?

Having it set in New Orleans and the culture of the Afro-Caribbean [...] it's just this moment of complete "wow." If my family in the Dominican Republic knew someone in their lineage would be doing this — it's so far off from what, traditionally, people who come from where I'm from would be doing.

Attacking Mabel from my perspective, with my cultural background, especially with the music, there's just so much to play with. I never feel like I have to sound [like] or be someone other than myself, which is so refreshing. It's been really cool to blend the two worlds of my classical training, both in acting and vocal, and then also my more contemporary style.

This is probably why I'm having such a fun time, because it just feels like kismet.

Which came first, your interest in jazz or classical music? Tell me about your journey as a performer.

My basis of training is a classical, opera vibe [...] but also a lot of musical theatre — I did all of it. And then I had a voice teacher, Shauna Pittman, [who] would throw random songs at me. That is how I started being able to cross genres fluidly. Where a lot of vocalists mess up is when they keep themselves in one style only, and they're not able to cross over. It stops them from being able to do all sorts of things, and I never wanted to be like that.

When I went to a performing arts high school my 10th grade year, I joined the theatre program in Houston, and there was also a jazz program. I somehow became really close friends with all the jazz kids, and they taught me so much. [...] That's when I found I love that style and my voice really fits well.

When this show came around, it didn't feel crazy to me to jump from jazz to soprano, which is not a normal thing, but they found the right person for the job! It's been preparing me for this moment.

Was Mabel on your mind between the concert and Broadway, or did you put her on a shelf for the past few years?

I'd sing ["Poor Wandering One"] in all my concerts, which, technically, I don't even know if I was allowed to, but I did it anyways. In that way, I definitely always held on to it and to her, but you never want to get your hopes up when it comes to shows moving.

And then [director] Scott Ellis called me, and he was like, "We are going to be making an announcement about the show going to Broadway." He was so cool and casual about it. After that, I started being like, "Okay, this is going to happen. At least I have something awesome to look forward to." It can get pretty grim as an actor out here!

What's different about the process of reinventing a known role versus originating one and shaping it from the ground up?

What's cool about reviving is that there's already a template, in a way. It does the actor a disservice to not look at what came before; there's a reason why that worked. I'm not one of those people who is like, "I don't want to see anything." I welcome anything because it's only going to help me be better, right?

There's obviously more of an added pressure when you're reviving something because someone did it so well before you — which I really felt during Caroline, or Change, because [my role was originated by] Anika Noni Rose. Bro. Princess Tiana. You're actually kidding me! But she was so kind during the process.

What is so true about both revivals and new work is infusing yourself in anything you do. The reason they hire you is to give them that idea of what this character could look like and sound like in their human moments. You're bringing a body to the work.

What haven't you done yet in your career that you still want to?

I want to be a series regular on a TV show. Please, God, just for the financial sake of it all! No, but I definitely want to dabble into TV and film. I'm sure everyone says that. I also really want to play Eurydice in Hadestown, so let's just write that in there too.

Have you ever had a theatre experience as an audience member that really moved you?

Heathers. There was something so magnetic seeing so many young people full of talent and at the top of their game come together.

Lorna [Courtney], she's reviving [original 2014 Off-Broadway cast member] Barrett Weed's iconic Veronica, but she is nothing like Barrett Weed. [...] The way Lorna was just so herself playing Veronica, I was like, yes, this is why we revive shows and why we put new faces and voices to these characters, and why they work!

I have never sat in the audience and felt so proud of watching like my best friends kill it. No pun intended. Lorna and Elizabeth [Teeter] are two of my very best friends, and I was literally sobbing because of the ups and downs of this industry, and how we've gone through it together. I've never had a theatrical experience like that.

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This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Photo credit: Samantha Williams. (Photos and creative direction by Nicole Wilson)
Stylist: Antonio Consuegra
Makeup: Taylor Levitan
Hair: Mariah Molina